The Great Field Trial Dog Snatch Caper

This is a field trial story worthy of Sherlock Holmes, or Laurel and Hardy, but that could have been tragic. It’s the story of the theft of a handler’s entire string of entries at a field trial held at Amelia, Virginia in the early 1980s, a time of strong competition among accomplished east coast pro and amateur handlers... Read more

My Father, the Farm, our Draft Mares and the Tractor

My father died of car crash injuries when I was fifteen in 1954. Now I am eighty-three. Despite our few shared years, he remains the person most influential in my life. I think of him often, and with gratitude, and wonder at how he inspired me. My father, born in 1897, lived through repeating hard times. Born and reared the son of a livestock dealer-farmer who conducted business largely on horseback through my father’s youth when he apprenticed, my father was drafted for Army service in World War One and completed Officer Candidate School at Camp Zackary Taylor in Kentucky just in time for the Armistice. Read more